


We are the Mighty Atoms!

by TheSealer



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Alternate Universe - Different Species, Chemistry, Family, Nerdiness, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-20 11:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14894006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSealer/pseuds/TheSealer
Summary: AU. It's just like traditional Steven Universe, except instead of sentient rocks, his family is comprised of mostly atomic elements from another planet. They are the Mighty Atoms, will always save the day and if you think they can't, they'll always find a way. Because the people of this world believe in, Magnesia, Carbon and Fluorine...and Steven!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an AU I had imagined. I used to be a nerd about chemistry when my class started on the subject of atoms. So I figured replacing the Gems with atomic elements.  
> This is just me posting my idea. I know this will never take off.

**The Mighty Atoms**

The sun kissed Greg Universe's skin. He wasn't even doing most of the heavy lifting, but the heat made the temptation to go for a water bottle too great to resist.

"Phew, building a house sure isn't easy." He looked over the wooden structure half-finished in the cave formed by two of the hands of the giant woman statue. Truly a proud work, even though the Atoms had done all of the heavy lifting. But he'd damned if he wasn't going to help. "How is that ukulele treating you?"

Steven Universe, his little schtooball, didn't say a word. He just kept strumming.

"Hey, Steven!" greeted a sweet voice of a female figure of faded yellow-green skin. If you could call 'skin' to the surface of her body, which a thorough eye could tell was slightly buzzing. As if it were running electricity.

Also interestingly was a thin ring around her neck were 7 small orbs rotated, equidistantly.

"Hey, Fluorine. Great job out there." The adult greeted friendly, handing her a water bottle, which the 'woman' – Fluorine – handed to her shorter, stockier companion. Another 'woman' of black-coal hue. Like Fluorine, she had the same buzzing and a ring with rotating orbs. Though hers was around her forehead and it had only 4.

"Greg, did you give Steven that instrument?" Fluorine asked.

"Oh, yes. He's picking up things so fast I'm running out of things to teach him."

Another strange woman joined them, the tallest of the whole group. She had a cubical afro and large shades. Her whole body and suit was in shades of white. Unlike the other two she had no ring with orbiting spheres anywhere, though she did have two orbs half embedded in one palm, and six in the other.

"Steven you wanna play them the song you wrote?"

The little boy turned his head away, his cheek gaining a shade of pink.

"Come on, you wrote it for them." The father said patiently. He turned to the Atoms. "Seriously, he's really excited with moving in with you guys." He turned back to the child. "Don't you want them to hear it?"

"Go on, Steven." Spoke the tallest woman with the shades, Magnesia.

"Yeah, we'll like it, even if it's bad!" said the black-coal one.

"Carbon!" Fluorine chided, then sighed. "Well, it's true, though."

Encourage, the little boy took a deep breath and began strumming.

_If you're evil and you're on the rise_

_You can count on the four of us taking you down_

_Cause we're good and evil never beats us_

_We'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas_

The small audience began clapping, incited by Magnesia.

_We are the Mighty Atoms_

_We'll always save the day!_

_And if you think we can't_

_We'll always find a way!_

_That's why the people of this world believe in_

_Magnesia, Carbon, and Fluorine and Steven!_

The Atoms joined in, one at the time. First was Magnesia. Behind her, two vague spectral figures appeared. Both short, one silver with a ring of two orbs and the other red with a ring of six.

_I will fight for the place where I'm free_

_To live together and exist as me_

Next was Fluorine while executing a graceful pirouette.

_I will fight in the name of Hydrogen!_

_And everything that she believed in_

Carbon brandished her whip and made a pose:

_I will fight for the world I was made in_

_The Earth is everything I've ever known!_

Finally, Steven bolted up and ended with:

_I will fight to be everything that everybody wants me to be_

_when I'm grown!_

His oversized shirt was lifted by the wind, showing the legacy of his mother; a single orb embedded where his nave should be.

* * *

**Atom Classroom Short: What are atoms?**

"Welcome to Atom Classroom. I'm Pearl, and today we're going to talk about what Atoms are." Said Chibi-flourine. "Simplified down to our basic form, Atoms are…well, atoms."

A chalkboard appears with 3 different Rutherford atom models, silver, red and black. If you don't know what that looks like, image google it.

"The core of our being is a nucleus, made of positive and neutral particles. The bodies that you see are made of negative particles – electrons – which are held in place by the nucleus."

The examples in the chalkboard turned into Magnesia and Carbon.

"Nice electrons." Carbon winked at Magnesia.

"I know."

Fluorine continued. "Though Atoms are extraordinarily resilient, as their electrons are tightly attracted to their nucleus, if they're seriously hurt, the electrons will scatter and the Atoms loses her physical form. Thus, becomes only its nucleus..."

To demonstrate the point, Magnesia knocked Carbon on the head, poofing her into an orb of black and grey facets.

"Now, the Atom will proceed to regenerate, by randomly colleting electrons from the environment around it. In order to prevent regeneration, the nucleus can be contained in an electron free container."

"Like a bubble." Magnesia made another demonstration by bubbling what remained of Carbon.

"It's important to remember that not all of our electrons make up our bodies." A circular ring appeared with spheres running on it like planets drawing an orbit around a star. "These are called 'valence electrons' and are the most outer shell of electrons an atom has. They are, so to speak, an excess of electrons which makes the Atom unstable, uncomplete. Alas, an atom has to exist with them and, unfortunately, cannot be thrown away..." Fluorine absently passed a hand over her own valence electrons orbiting around her neck. "The atoms that have no valence electrons are perfectly stable, but they are unique…and we're not talking about them here." She finished with a frown.

Magnesia intervened. "There are other ways for atoms to counteract the imbalance." She showed off the electrons embedded in her palms and winked behind her shades. "But that's for another class."

Carbon was unbubbled and reformed almost immediately. Specks of light gathered around the nucleus and made her new form.

"Not cool, Mag."

"Now, an Atom can regenerate as many times as it needs, as long as it remains undamaged. But if the nucleus receives a blow with too much force, the neutrons and protons that make it up will scatter, too. Thus the Atom suffers a true death." Fluorine finished. "And, on that cheery note, that's all for today's lesson."

* * *

**Atom Classroom Short:** **~~Fusion~~ Bonding**

"Listen up, everyone! Today we are talking about…bonding. Atomic bonding." Started out Magnesia.

We cut to Magnesia dancing to the tune.

"Bonding is made when two or more Atoms combine into one molecule, like me. See, 'Magnesia' is just a nickname. My full name is 'Magnesium Oxide'."

Magnesia split herself into two smaller atoms: Oxygen and Magnesium, each with their own orbiting valence electrons.

"See, bonding is a form of stabilizing atoms by sharing electrons." The red Oxygen, dressed like a soldier said, sharing a dance with the silver princess-like Magnesium, who continued: "As long as the total amount of valence electrons is a specific number. In most cases like ours, there has to be a total of 8 summed electrons."

The two rejoin together into Magnesia.

"As a molecule, I am stable. Therefore, no valence electrons circling around me." She displayed her palms where the valence electrons of Oxygen and Magnesium were embedded. "For a bonding to be sustainable indefinitely, the Atoms that make it up must crave something else than feeling complete. It requires an emotional bond to sustain the bonding for long-periods. And in my case," she makes a heart symbol with her palms. "it's love!"

"So that's kinda like a fusion of Atoms?" Steven asked from his desk.

"Oh, no. Not at all." Magnesia shook her head, sounding a bit distress. "Fusion for atoms, also called 'Nuclear Fusion', involves Atoms been fused into one new Atoms, nucleus and all, rather than a molecule. This is exceedingly difficult, dangerous and impossible to revert. Once two Atoms are fused, their individuality is forfeited. And there is never any guarantee that the newly fused Atom will be stable. Because of this, Fusion is virtually unspoken of among Atoms."

"Sounds kinda scary." Steven said.

"It is." Magnesia nodded. "Though not as much as the other side of the coin of scary: fission. Fission is an individual atom splitting itself into two or more personalities. If fusion is extremely risky, fission is borderline suicidal as when an Atom splits, they become broken physically, mentally and emotionally. At worst, it's fatal and at best it's very crippling."

Steven gulped. "That sounds really scary."

Magnesia replied with her trademark blank look. "It is. Class dismissed!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose the atomic elements for the Gems for a few loose parameters. First of all, they had to be able to bond into simple molecules, pairs of different atoms like MgO.
> 
> Amethyst – Carbon; because carbon takes on many forms.
> 
> Pearl – Fluorine
> 
> Garnet – Magnesia (Magnesium Oxide)
> 
> Ruby – Oxygen
> 
> Sapphire – Magnesium
> 
> Rose Quartz - Hydrogen
> 
> Now, there are no plans to make this into a story, in short or long-term, but I still have a few scenes to publish. Also, you may have noticed that by my version of Classrooms, there could never be a Hydrogen Atom with a physical form. Points for whoever guesses why.


	2. Authority

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of my nerdness, this time inserting the Diamonds

**It could have been great**

Steven Universe, the Moon Boy, looked quizzing to the mural of a figure in yellow.

“Hey Aluminium, who is this supposed to be?”

Aluminium, the short Homeworld Atom, gasped and ran shined her light onto the mural “It's Neon!  Wait! Are they all here?” she briefly turned her light around to the other murals. “Ahh yes! There she is!”

Aluminium ran towards another mural, one of deep purple. “Behold! The one and only Argon! Isn't she just a magnificent Noble Gas?!”

Steven blinked. “So who are the Noble Gases, anyway? Do they eat too much fiber?”

Aluminium looked at him, shocked. “Are you joking me?! The Noble Gases are the Atom matriarchs and overmasters! Together they make up the Great Inert Authority that governs Homeworld and all the outlying colonies! We live to serve them!”

* * *

 

**Message Received**

Aluminium looked a bit wary as Steven brought her inside the car. “Why are we in this broken-down vehicle?”

Steven gave her a passionless look. “I wanted to ask you...” his gaze momentarily laid on the Rutherford-atom-model shaped object. If you don’t know what that looks like, image google it. “…about the Noble Gases.”

The wariness on her face practically evaporated. “Oh! I don't know what the others have told you, but there's a reason they're in charge.”

“Why's that?”

“They're objectively better than us. Every Atom has an unbalanced number of electrons which makes them uncomplete, reactive and imperfect, but not them. They're absolutely, totally complete, flawless, unreactive beings!” her smile leaked of adulation. “Especially my Gas, Argon, the purple Inert, the most perfect, the most reasonable, rational, efficient decider ever to exist in the universe!”

“You're really loyal to her, aren't you?”

“How could I not be? We might have our little truce, but I'll never forsake the Atom I was made for!”

Never? Sometime later…

“ _This is the Noble Argon control room. Who authorized you to make this call?_ ” on the hollo-screen was a stern figure with a familiar pointed nose. Another Fluorine, this one in shades of faded purple.

“No one, b-b-but it's an emergency!” Aluminium said hurriedly. The purple Fluorine was unfazed.

“ _That's no excuse to use the Noble Gas communication channel_.”

“ _Fluorine…_ ” spoke a monotonous, yet assertive voice off-screen.

“Yes, my Inertness?”

“ _Why is there someone on the Noble Gas line?_ ”

“ _I don't know. I was just about to tell her that…”_

“ _I'll take it from here_.” A giant gloved hand of deep purple brought the screen up to her eye level. Argon was a giant Atom. She resembled a statue, immovable like a mountain. Interestingly enough, her skin didn’t buzz even a little, unlike all other Atoms. It was hard, unaffected. Unreactive. Inert.

“My Inertness! Aluminium, reporting in.”

What followed was Aluminium explaining her current situation, with some lies mixed in as to why she had no ship, no Titanium escort. Which resulted in an admonishment from her Noble Gas.

“ _And what is the status of The Neutar_?”

“The Neutar…will emerge shortly.”

* * *

 

**Back to the Moon**

The crew was back to the, this time with the squad of Oxygens from Homeworld and Carbon shape-shifted as Titanium. All in an effort to trick the Homeworld soldiers that was slightly getting out of hand.

“Look at this place” said the leader of the enemy Oxygens. “frozen in time. An Era-1 base.” She turned to one of the murals. “ _Her_ Era-1 base. It was a tragedy, what happened to her.”

Another Oxygen, one not so sharp, asked: “Who is that anyway?”

The leader Oxygen with her electrons orbiting around her head, growled. “Were you made yesterday?! That is-was _Helium_.”

A moment of silence. Steven looked over the mural, which he had basically ignored on their last journey here.

“Titanium,” the Oxygen turned to the Mighty Atom in disguise. “maybe you should tell the story.”

But Carbon nervously denied and the Oxygen showed remarkable sympathy and proceeded to explain and the crowd climbed down the staircase.

“Earth was Helium’s colony. Everything was going smoothly at first. Kindergartens were incubating their first soldiers. Big, warm pieces of metal elements - like this mountain over here - were being created from its rich atomic particles with great success. Then, bam! One of Helium’s very own created elements started a rebellion and took it too far.

“I was there. I saw it with my two eyes. I watched the leader of the Mighty Atoms, Hydrogen, attacked Helium and broke apart her nucleus! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peridot – Aluminium
> 
> Pink Diamond – Helium (orange color)
> 
> Yellow Diamond – Argon (purple color)
> 
> Blue Diamond – Neon (yellow color)
> 
> White Diamond – Krypton (white color)
> 
> Lapis Lazuli – Mercury
> 
> Jasper – Titanium


	3. Single Pale Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this was requested by a reviewer. Please keep in mind it’s very simple. It only deviates from canon in the process of how Helium disguises herself. Also, Hydrogen is Pink just like Rose Quartz because the color just suites her.

**Thousands of years ago…**

**Single Pale Rose flashback**

The pink palanquin was as silent as the night. The only sound was the noises of royal court Atoms outside, awaiting the remerge of their Noble Gas. Then a new sound filled the air, that of whispers behind the throne.

“…And then we'll be done. It's going to be easy!” who spoke that was the last person expected to see in there. A giant woman of pink curly air and robust appearance, Hydrogen, the infamous leader of the Mighty Atoms rebellion.

“There's got to be another way.” Said a much softer looking person, the Fluorine that in name belonged to Helium, but in soul belonged to no one. “I mean, maybe…”

“Neon and Argon don't care. They never have. This is Helium's colony.” Hydrogen rolled her eyes, like she had heard that too many times. Which she had. “We can end it all right here, right now.”

“You know this is crazy, right? Your status, my purpose. None of it will matter anymore. This will change everything.”

“I know! Isn't it exciting?” Hydrogen was giddily containing her excitement, like a child being taken by their parents to a long-awaited theme-park.

Fluorine sighed and smiled. A soft but more intense shade of yellow blush on her cheeks. Really, her confidant’s excitement could be contagious.

“We can leave our old lives behind. If this is really my world, I want to give it to the Mighty Atoms. I want to live here with human beings! I wanna live here with you! We'll both finally be free!”

Freedom was what they all had fought for. “Okay. I'm ready.”

“ _Flowerine_!” Hydrogen used her adorable nickname for her partner which only made the poor thing’s blush escalate. After the moment passed, the soon would-be murderer sighed once again:

“I can't believe I'm going to do this.”

“I can't exactly break my own nucleus apart.” They share a hug and Hydrogen begins to shapeshift. The abnormality about Hydrogens in general, is that they are inherently defective and therefore extremely rare, existing only in the underbelly of Homeworld. The physical forms of Atoms is made up of their non-valence electrons. And Hydrogens only have one single electron; which is a valence one spinning in an orbit outside their bodies. Therefore, Hydrogens _couldn’t_ have physical forms.

Yet, this one had. Many said it was a fluke. Homeworld Atoms said she was a defective defect (redundancy, much?). Mighty Atoms claimed she was just extraordinary.

As she changed shape, the orbit of her single valence electron began to shrink, the orb becoming closer and closer to the mass of light until it was embedded in it. Amazingly, another electron had resurfaced and joined the embedded one. Right then and there, stood Helium with her two balanced electrons embedded on her nave.

While Hydrogen was pink-haired with a reactive skin of slightly pink hue, Helium was in different shades of orange. Her skin was compact and inert. Yellow it emitted a faint glow like a mini-sun.

Fluorine watched her with a mixture of worriedness and admiration. When her Noble Gas put something on her mind, she wouldn’t rest until she saw it through. She wanted to create a persona to lead the rebellion, so she separated her electrons, hid one and let the other unbalanced, thus creating the infamous Hydrogen. Fluorine felt admiration for her sheer willpower alone, but fear for her well-fare for the same reason. Separating her electrons which were a perfect pair could have consequences. Fluorine just hoped they never came to find out.

Helium returned with a handful of dirt and a pink flower. She handed the second item to Fluorine and smiled teasingly. “For you, my Flowerine.”

“Oh, please stop it, my Inertess.” The smaller Atom blushed and chuckled in embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first I thought of making the Helium-Hydrogen transformation be like the process of fission. But, from my explanation on the first chapter, it would make it unnecessarily complicated and dangerous. So basically, Helium just hides one of her electrons inside and lets to other spin around her, unbalanced.


End file.
